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Unlike gran, mom had no idea how beautiful she really was. With her long blonde locks falling halfway down her back and her long lean body, she could have been a model. Dad always said he was instantly drawn to her emerald green eyes. She was the complete opposite of me. I had the dark hair and blue eyes of my father. While I was in no way overweight, my body seemed to lack the length and grace of my mothers.
“Now Emma, how have you been?” Mom asked, taking a seat on the sofa. She glanced around. “The place looks nice.” She looked at me closely, obviously looking for signs of emotional instability from the other day. I smiled at her. In mother language that meant 'oh good you're cleaning.'
“Thanks.” I carried over the pot of tea and the condiments. “Scones will be a minute.” I placed the tray on the coffee table and went to rescue the scones. They were perfectly golden.
“Oh Emma, this all looks lovely. You go to way too much trouble though my dear.”
“It’s not like I don't have time on my hands Gran.” I laughed. The words hung in the air. Shit, why did I say that? I thought. I knew how much trouble my family had accepting my situation. My way of coping was to joke and lighten the mood. Their approach was to tiptoe around me and ignore the fact that I obviously still have serious issues relating to the attack. ‘If we ignore it, it's like it never happened.’ That is the Mancelli family philosophy. If anything, ignoring it made it worse. Who could I talk to if not my own family? My own dad barely found the time to call me, much less visit me. In the past year I'd seen him once.
Once. He had time to play golf, wine and dine clients, but no time to see his daughter. How did that work?
“How are your studies going?” Mom smiled at me, deliberately redirecting the conversation.
“Good.” I shovelled the last bit of my scone into my mouth. Yet again I'd outdone myself. These scones were awesome. The secret was the lemonade. And the cream. Cream can make even the worst scone seem tasty. Hell, cream made everything tasty. Cooking was what I did to try and hide the way I was feeling. I cooked a lot.
“You know Emma, this internet is the way to go nowadays.” Gran addressed me with all seriousness as she spooned a heap of cream onto her scone. “I’ve met up with four lovely men in the past week alone.”
“Gran!” I exclaimed, unable to keep the smile off my face. Gran was widowed and ninety-six. Not only was she on Facebook and Twitter, she had discovered the dating scene a few weeks ago. I now knew more about Mix and Mate, Perfect Match, and Adult Fun than I had ever cared to.
I'd learned two very disturbing things off gran. The first was the libido of the over eighty age group was insane. They made prostitutes look like church going virgins, and; the number of men under the age of sixty who were into a 'mature' woman was astounding.
“There is nothing wrong with shopping around Emma. How am I supposed to milk the cow?” Gran shrugged her shoulders unapologetically.
I coughed mid swallow, sending bits of scone across the table Mom shrugged at me helplessly, looking rather embarrassed. Again.
“So long as you’re happy, gran.” It was all I could say.
Should I be embarrassed that my great grandmother was getting more action than me? Probably.
If you discount the attack, I had never been with any boy. It's hard to meet men when you're housebound. And Tom was well... Tom. We were such good friends that sex had never been an issue we'd had to deal with. It had never even come up.
Pardon the pun.
Cass answered on the first ring.
“Expecting someone?”
“No.” She replied hurriedly. “I was just holding my phone. What’s up?”
“I need a little favour. Something I can’t really explain over the phone.” This was more than enough to get Cass’s attention. I never asked for favours.
“Sure. I will be over soon. Just have to finish something off here.”
“Bent penis guy? While on the phone to me?” I gaped at her. Why the hell did she even answer the phone/?
“Yeah he kind of came over and, well, it just happened.” Cass at least had the decency to blush. “I tried to take a picture for you.” She added, grinning.
“I don’t want a picture!” I couldn’t think of anything worse than seeing Cass’s latest boyfriends bent wang. “Geez Cass!” Cass giggled, showing no signs of shame. “So you like this guy then?”
“Honestly? No. He is rude, obnoxious, and not really my type at all.”
“Then why?” I gasped, giggling. Cass blushed again.
“Because when I told you he could hit the right notes, I wasn’t kidding.”
“Cass!” I groaned. She gaped at me, her eyebrows raised. She tried to look serious, but it was no use. Neither of us could keep a straight face. “Cass. You are crazy.”
“That’s great coming from you, Miss ‘I Can’t Find Any Man Sexy.’ I don’t expect you to understand, but I have needs that need to be dealt with.” Cass stared at me strangely. “You are blushing. Why are you blushing?” Her face lit up into a smile as she realised.
